The Declaration of Independence

On July 2, 1776, America's Second Continental Congress voted to secede from England. Two days later, it approved the final wording of the Declaration of Independence, excising a passage Jefferson wrote abolishing slavery. That evening John Hancock ordered that about 200 broadside copies be made by printer John Dunlap. But the famous signing ceremony didn't occur until August 2. The original Dunlap broadsides are unsigned and only 25 are known to exist. The last sale of one occurred in 2000 to TV producer Norman Lear for $8.1 million. You can download the words on the Internet or your Kindle for free.